Raising brush for shearing machines



Nov. 2, 1937. F. H. HARDY v RAISING BRUSH FOR SHEARING MACHINES FiledMarch 13, 1936 Patented Nov. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFECE 2Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of cylindrical brushes inwhich the length substantially exceeds the diameter, such as are used asparts of machines in a number of different arts 5 and in a variety ofapplications. In particular, and as illustrated herein, the inventionrelates to raising brushes for the shearing machines used to shear thenap of worsted and Woolen suitings and other fabrics in the course ofthe finishing of these materials. It has as its object the production ofan improved brush of this sort in simpler and cheaper manner thanheretofore possible.

These brushes are cylindrical, usually of about six inches in diameter,clad with bristles having a free extent of about one inch, and actagainst one surface of the fabric while the latter is heavy metalmandrel running through it to keep it from warping out of its straightrelation, the reduced extremities of this metal core serving as journalsand one thereof being supplied with a pulley through which the brush isrotated. Wood being thus used, the bristles have been cemented andpegged into holes formed therein to form tufts which give the. best formof bristle surface for raising the nap.

But wood is unavoidably of varying density, the heart wood being ofdifferent specific gravity from the sap wood, and since these brusheshave to run rapidly, in the neighborhood of 500-600 R. P. IVL, theyinevitably wabble to a greater or less degree, because the wood itselfis out of balance, and in spite of any reasonably attainable stiffnessof the mandrel, as the span between the bearings has to be of five feetor more, While the brush with its mandrel weighs ordinarily in excess of75 pounds. If the brush does not run true, it bears harder against the:cloth each time the high point in the circuit of the brush comes aroundand since the cloth is moving over the narrow edge of the supportingledger blade a very slight lack of balance in the brush results inmaking a mark across the fabric which is clearly and permanently visibleafter the shearing operation.

In the effort to overcome this difliculty, it is common practice tocheck the balance of the as sembled wooden portion with its mandrel inplace, and remedy inequalities by drilling out or lead- Weighting themetallic shaft; but even if this be done, and it must be done before thebristles are set, the finished brush will usually be'unbalanced afterthe bristles have been inserted. No end of bother has been met with inthe effort to produce true-running brushes, as a wabbling brush is worsethan useless through the damage it occasions to the fabric.

I have found that by making the wooden part of the brush in shortsections, with these sec tions clamped together on the mandrel so as toprevent relative rotation. between the sections when in use, the brushcan be made to run ab solutely true, because the finished sections withbristles all inserted and trimmed down can be angularly adjusted aboutthe mandrel with respect to each other before being clamped in fixedrelation and thus the eccentric location of the center of gravity ofeach section can be compensated for and cancelled out by utilizing theunavoidable eccentric weighting of another section or sections to bringthe brush into true dynamic balance.

As an additional feature of the invention, the making of the brush insections makes it possible to produce a brush having a better brushingsurface at a cheaper cost, because the short wooden sections being somuch lighter and free of the weight of all metal parts can be held inposition and manipulated manually for the semi-automatic action of thestandard bristle-stapling machine, which cannot be done with thefulllength brush, and therefore the tufts of bristles can be set muchcloser than they can be put in by hand, whether pegged or in pitch-set.For instance, where a six-section brush according to the invention ismade, having the standard effective length of 66 /2 inches, each 11-inchsection can have 4400 tufts of bristles, whereas the whole length of theequivalent one-piece handset brush can not economically have over 4500tufts, the sectional brush thus being much fuller and presenting a farbetter working surface, while being much cheaper because made morecompletely by machine work. Also, a marked economy results from the factthat the bristlestapling machine puts in stapled tufts, in whichemployed effectively, which means that 3%, to 3 inch length of bristlesmust be used in order to get the stiffness of bristle needed in theworking surface, while bending and doubling of the bristles is notpossible, and all of the bristles beyond the inch sunk in the wood, plusthe one-inch exposed length, must be trimmed off and thrown away.

Use of the invention principles obviates the mechanical difficulties metwith in the attempt to form the axial bore accurately through thefull-length wooden member of brushes of previous types. It is mucheasier to bore the necessary hole axially through a short ll-inchsection of wood, and thereafter to ream it to a mechanicallyperfect fiton the mandrel, than todrill and ream accurately through a length ofmore than five feet of wood. In the latter case, it

has seldom been possible to attain a bore which was straight andconcentric with the outward surface, because the varying density of thewood on opposite sides of the bore deflected the boring and reamingtools out of their intended axial alignment, such deflection beingimpossible to prevent on account of the length of the shank of the toolcompelled in the case of the former continuous wooden element used inthe prior type of brushes.

In some classes of use of brushes of this type, the central parts of thebristle-surface of the brush become worn down faster than the parts atthe ends. I-Ieretofore this has meant returning the brush to the factoryfor retrimming if only slightly worn, and otherwise has meant a completediscarding and replacement of the entire brush. Through use of theinvention principle, the user of the brush can keep a supply of newsections on hand, replacing the worn sections as needed, or all of them,himself without losing machine-time or having to send the brush back tothe brush factory, or having to replace the entire brush including theexpensive mandrel as is compelled if the latter has been balanced byboring or lead-plugging.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing in which,

Fig. 1 shows in elevation the improved brush complete, partly brokenaway to show the structure.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing one of the sections comprising thenovel brush.

As indicated, the brush is made up of a plurality of sections l of rightcylindrical form, of the requisite external diameter for the intendeduse, and of any convenient length. As an illustrative example only, inthe case of a raising brush intended to have a working surface 66%;inches long, the sections 5 may be six in number, the terminal onesbeing 11%; inches long, each having one of its ends rounded and devoidof bristles for inch if desired, and four intermediate sections each 11inches in length. This makes a convenient size and weight to be handledby the workman in presenting the section to the bristle-staplingmachine, as in the operation of such machines each of the holes whichhave been formed in the section by a previous operation for thereception of the several tufts of bristles must be presentedsuccessively in correct alignment with the stapling plunger while thesection is supported and guided by hand. The supporting shaft or mandrel3 is ordinarily on the order of 1% inches in thickness, having itsopposite extremities 5 turned down over a length of eight inches or soto a standard or desired size to fit into suitable journal boxes on theframe of the shearing machine and aiso to receive a suitable drivingpulley. An axial bore 1 is made through each section and reamed intoexact concentricity with the cylindrical exterior 9 of the section andto an accurate sliding fit upon the full-diameter portion of the mandrel3.

The mandrel 3 is provided adjacent one end of its full-diameter portionwith a shoulder constituted by a collar ii fixed in place thereon by aset-screw H3 or otherwise as desired, against which one end of theseries of sections i abuts. The opposite end of the full-diameterportion of mandrel 3 is threaded and provided with a nut I5 and lock-nutl1, serving through the interposed washer Hi to exert axial pressure onthe series of sections I to force them endwise against each other andthe remote end-section against the collar II to clamp the whole seriestogether and to the mandrel so as to prevent all possibility of relativerotation in use.

When each of the component sections of a brush has been completelyfinished, with the bore of the wooden member accurately fitted to themandrel, and with the bristles inserted and with their surface trued toexact concentricity with the bore, the sections are placed in theirfinal order upon the mandrel 3 against the shoulder ll thereon, the nuts[5 and ll loosely applied, and the assembly is rolled upon horizontalstraight-edges supporting the journals 5 to determine the balance of thebrush. Thereafter it is a simple matter to rotate the several sectionsrelatively to each other about the axis of the mandrel until a perfectbalance of the whole is attained, whereupon the nut l5 and lock-nut llare tightened to clamp all the sections immovably together and thusretain the perfect balance secured by this easy adjustment. r

If the brush loses its balance through uneven wear or other changes inuse, it is but a moments work to repeat the balancing process justdescribed and thus restore this essential characteristic for properoperation. The removal of worn sections and their replacement with newones, in simple and obvious manner, followed by the same balancingoperation, will restore the brush to complete usefulness with slightexpense and inconsiderable expenditure of time and effort.

Ordinarily the holes 2| to receive the bristles, and the correspondingtufts 23 fixed therein by staples 25 will be disposed in close orderspirally about the surface of each section, being carried clear to theends of the section (save the blank portions adjacent the roundedcorners at the outwardends of the terminal sections) so that when puttogether end to end on the mandrel there will be no lack of uniformityin the texture of the bristle surface where the ends of the adjacentsections come together.

While I have illustrated and described a certain form in which theinvention maybeembodied, I am aware that many modifications may be madetherein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from thescope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do notwish to be limited to the particular form shown, or to the details ofconstruction thereof, but

What I do claim is:

1. A raising brush for shearing machines comprising in combination aheavy metallic core, a plurality of bristle-clad cylindrical woodensections of a length substantially approximating their outside diameterand sufficient to receive many hundreds of tufts of bristles, suchsections being coaxially mounted on such core end-to-end and rotatedthereon relatively to each other to bring the brush into dynamicbalance, and means for removably clamping the several sections inoperatively immovable relation after the balancing has beenaccomplished.

2. A raising brush for shearing machines comprising in combination ametallic mandrel having a heavy intermediate portion and reducedextremities serving as journals, a plurality of bristle-clad cylindricalWooden sections of a length at least commensurate with their outsidediameter and adequate to receive a multiplicity of tufts of bristlesdisposed lengthwise of the sec tions as Well as around the circuitthereof, such sections being coaxially mounted on the intermediateportion of the mandrel end-to-end and rotated with respect to each otherand to the mandrel to balance the eccentric center of gravity of onesection by appropriate eccentric location of the center of gravity ofanother section, a shoulder fixed on the mandrel, and means engaging themandrel and forcing the series of sections end- Wise to clamp themagainst each other and against the shoulder in operatively non-rotativerelation to each other.

FRANK H. HARDY.

